The Road Home

It was just another BC highway but to me it was a road never travelled so i looked forward to the drive. 

It was the road that people associated with hot springs - Radium, Fairmont, which apparently are big attractions  -  but not to me.  I could never see the appeal of sitting around in a pool of water, half naked, with a bunch of strangers.  Besides, I don't own a bathing suit.  About 20 years ago I had a photo of myself in a bathing suit in Hawaii and decided not to wear one again. Oh, to have that body now!

Let's get back on track, to the trippin' down the highway.  We did stop and have a look around Radium Hot Springs. There were a bunch of half naked people sitting shoulder to shoulder in a pool of water, and the setting was next to the highway ....... enough said. 

The drive was lovely. We screeched to a stop to get a closer look at a beautiful green lake.  On closer look I think it was the reflection of the trees that gave it the green color but it was the perfect opportunity to stop and enjoy the scenery.  

Dale had been lamenting the lack of wild life seen on the trip when we came upon a moose grazing along the highway. Undeterred by the numbers of people stopping to look at it, we were able to get a photo. 

We drove into a little place called Canal Flats. I believe it is home to a sawmill and a few hundred people, and this .......

Kimberley, BC, dressed up to look like a Bavarian mountain town, was charming with it's architecture and the smells of bratwurst wafting through the air.  We wandered through the pedestrian streets and put money into the town cuckoo clock, which is apparently the largest cuckoo clock in the world.  One dollar will get a moustachioed man to come out of the clock and begin yodelling. 

We decided to spend the night in Creston and found a little room at the Creston Hotel, above Johnny's Bar.  An unassuming room, it was located downtown which was perfect for evening strolling after dinner.  We found a restaurant called Real Food Cafe, which specialized in local meats, cheeses and produce.  If you are ever in Creston you really should go there. 

The evening stroll resulted in this photo taken in the gloaming.  In this instance the Norths were not wandering but rather "roaming in the gloaming". 

In the morning  it was time to start the final drive home. A drive into Salmo and a stop at the Dragonfly.  Oh my god, the Dragonfly......not the inn, and Lorelai would not be there to greet me, but the name alone was enough to stop.  It was a coffee shop and it was .....okay, i need to find some synonyms for quaint, charming, delightful. 

It is time to wrap up the trip.  We saw more wild life.......

.......and enjoyed the scenery.....

 and of course we had borscht in Grand Forks and stopped at the antique store in Rock Creek,

and, a drive on that stretch of highway would not be complete without a stop in Bridesville.  There are no businesses, no services and only about 30 residences. A google search says very little other than there is a scrap dealer there. I have never seen anyone there, although we did hear a dog barking, so there is life. 

I have driven many miles (miles still sounds better than kilometers) on British Columbia highways this summer. More to go........Pat, a trip to Terrace is still on my to-do list but it may have to wait until next year.  

Thanks for trippin' along with me 

Lou. 

Banff and Lake Louise

We arrived in Banff and found our accommodation without any difficulty. It was new and spacious and close to town. They had a great common room and a breakfast room that provided us with a delicious, nutritious breakfast the following day.  We had considered staying at Lake Louise at the Chateau but prices were quoted as being 600 to 1000 💰💰💰 a night. 

 The town of Banff was teeming with tourists from all over the world. Germany and Asia were well represented as was Eastern Europe.  Restaurants were full and people were walking around with bags of souveniers purchased  and taking lots of photographs. It is a beautiful setting, nestled in the mountains, but...........

...... I was not, however, impressed with the town itself. It seemed dated and it was full of tacky (to me) tourist shops, a plethora of candy shops and lacked charm.  Restaurants were unremarkable and the food we had was mediocre. It was, however, great being there and taking in the atmosphere of the town that is such a major tourist attraction. 

We awoke early the next morning and drove to the Cave and Basin but were about two hours too early to actually get to see the cave.  We did walk on the various trails, including boardwalk trails that explained the history of the area and the plants and animals that survive and flourish in the warm springs habitat.  The air was so fresh and sweet and the early hour meant that we were alone on our walk. 

Next stop was Lake Louise. I had been there once before, maybe twenty years ago, but i couldn't help but be awestruck by it's majestic beauty. We took a million photos and all you really need is one, but I found that none of them really did it justice and most of them were too cliche. This one was my favorite because of Dale's presence giving it a personal touch. 

After Lake Louise we began our return trip home. We still had a couple of days on the road and I had a plumbing problem awaiting my return.  We took a road I had never been on - Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park and we were looking forward to trippin' in a new area. 

"On the road again, like a band of gypsies we roll down the highway".......thanks for those words Willie.

 

On the road to Banff

I changed the name of my blog to Trippin' with Betty-Lou and that got me thinking about various trips I have been on. There were the LSD trips (2 to be precise) in about 1970 and then a decade later the lone marijuana muffin 'trip'. 😳. Leaving the mind trips behind, i recently did some taste trippin' with miracle berries aka LSD for your tongue. 😝

I digress.  The object of this current post is to write about the small road trip that Dale and I took to Banff and Lake Louise. Those were our destinations but the object of the trip was the drive itself and what we might discover along the way. Let us begin trippin'.  

The first discovery was a roadside attraction between Enderby and Armstrong called the Log Barn. it was the goats walking on a ramp above the entrance that drew our attention and caused us to drive in. The goats operated a pulley with their feet or heads and brought up a can of corn to eat, which people had filled. Definitely for tourists, and especially families with children, we nevertheless enjoyed our first stop. Did I mention there were dinosaurs?  

Just a little further down the highway we stopped again.  Welcome to D Dutchmen Dairy. 

We visited the cows and calves in the barns and although I would have preferred to see them romping around in a green pasture, we got to pet them and they got to cuddle with us.  I have always loved the sweet smell of calves and hay. It reminds me of my childhood and trips to the farms which were special to a "town girl". 

Of course we had to stop at Craigellachie where the last spike in Canada's railroad  was made on November 7, 1885. Our last trip there was in 1985. 

Next stop..........Three Valley Gap, beside Three Valley Lake and the sheer rock of the Monashee Mountains.  Did you know it was built, owned and operated by the same family for over 50 years?  

Field has been on my list of places to revisit and it did not disappoint. It is so quaint and charming and would have been a great place to stay but there were no vacancies.  We did, however, find a perfect restaurant in The Siding General Store, which is a general store, liquor store and restaurant in one. It is the "house" with the yellow roof in the photo. 

The drive between Summerland and Banff is said to take 7 hours.  We spent close to 12 hours on the road and had a most enjoyable day, which ended by checking into our B & B in Banff. 

This photo was taken at Three Valley Lake. 

BLou. 😉